Differences in Men’s and Women’s Perception of Infidelity in Varying Situations

Exposure to infidelity is rife in our society, whether it has been experienced personally, through friends, or from the media. In this 2 x 3 between subjects study, 128 students read scenarios regarding infidelity (sexual or emotional) in varying situations (internet, phone, or face-to-face). The students answered a 12-item questionnaire about their reactions to the scenarios. Overall, the hypothesized evolutionary theory of men being more upset by sexual infidelity and women being more upset by emotional infidelity was not supported; both men and women were more negative toward sexual infidelity.The addition of varying the situations in which the infidelity would take place revealed that men and women do differ on responses to perceptions of infidelity